Samantha ((Sam)) Morse

Samantha (Sam) Morse, 69, passed on Monday of advanced cancer at her Philadelphia home. She is survived by her loving spouse Eileen Schaller; her furry children; the Angelini family: sister-in-law Therese, her husband Steve, and their children Lauren and Sean; her brother Johnathan, his wife Haesun and their daughter Leah; and a large “chosen family” as she was fond of saying, who, as a pioneering gender non-conformist, she loved and advocated for.
Sam’s passions were many: She loved literature and could be counted on for that obscure quote; her love of art – she attended Philadelphia College of Art and her many paintings adorn her own and friends’ houses; her legendary love of quirk – from her gold lamé slippers to her two pink Barbie holiday trees, and the defiant blue streak in her close-cropped hair. She was passionate about the environment and worked on her local condo board to develop environmentally safe grounds-keeping practices.
She dearly loved the City of Philadelphia – she worked in affordable housing for various City and community agencies: PIDC: Kensington Community Development Corp.; Philadelphia Neighborhood Housing Services. Sam and fellow housing advocate, Joel Spivak, were awarded the HUD Platinum Award of Excellence for designing and rehabbing a 10-year vacant property into an affordable duplex changing the nature of a local Fern Rock neighborhood.
The service will be at Weinstein Mortuary (www.weinsteinmortuary.com), Hartford, Connecticut at 11 a.m. on Friday, January 8th
At her request, donations in her honor may be made to:
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (www.jdc.org); General Israel Orphan’s Home for Girls in Jerusalem (www.gioh.org); the Environmental Defense Fund (www.edf.org); or Jewish Family and Children’s Services (www.jfcsphilly.org).

Service Date: 01/01/1970